Harmonix Co-founder - Rock Band ‘Something We’ll Return To’

A full-fledged, retail Rock Band title was last released nearly three long years ago. Since then, developer Harmonix has been busy with more kinetic offerings, including the Dance Central series and the just-announced Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved for Xbox consoles.

But don’t put your six-string in hock just yet, Tommy. In an interview with GamesBeat, Harmonix co-founder Alex Rigopulous responded to a question on departing from older IPs to take on Fantasia by claiming the company is not ready to bury Rock Band just yet:

I’ll also say that we don’t view Rock Band as something that’s being left behind. It’s something we’ll return to at the right point in time and reimagine it as appropriate for its time.

It’s possible Rigopulous said this only as a placeholder of sorts and that no future plans for Rock Band will come to light, or that more downloadable titles like Rock Band Blitz will be the only offerings. If they decide to go back into full equipment-based play, however, how do you think the brand would update itself? A GamePad keyboard or turntable, perhaps?

As a child, Tim once spent an entire month staring longingly at a copy of Kirby's Dream Land his parents had kept atop the refrigerator until he could play it on an upcoming road trip. That month would change his life forever.

It's a shame, really. It was the possibly the best party game ever. I don't see anyone shelling out 100+ bucks ever again to buy those bulky plastic instruments. It was fun while it lasted, but rebooting Rock Band would be a horrible idea.

Is there any way for you guys to know if Joss Whedon would like to work on the Metroid franchise? Specifically on Samus as a character? >_> After what happened with Samus in Other M, Joss Whedon working as the next metroid game's writer would be a godsend...

Rock Band will be back. People want it to be fun and for the instruments not to fall apart. It won't take 5 years and it will be back and popular. The power of nostalgia is well known in the video game world.

I'm more interested in Fantasia, though, which seems to be a more modern and focused take on Wii Music. That's the game idea that really deserves another chance and it's too bad it's going to be XBox exclusive. :/

@Melkaticox
Hi, it's not just that the question is weird, it's weird that you'd ask Nintendo Life if they know anything about the personal life choices of Joss Whedon, a TV showrunner, writer and movie director... not involved in any way in the video game industry that I know of.

Now, I agree with what you're suggesting: Joss Whedon could write a fantastic take on Samus as a character and rescue the franchise if he cared about it at all. I'll wager that he's far too focused on helping to manage the ongoing story of all the Marvel tie-in movies, the preparation of Avengers 2 which he'll write and direct and launching the S.H.E.I.L.D. TV show to even consider such a thing.

I will welcome the return of Rock Band. It isn't a series I got tired of so much as a series I ran out of time for. The whole plastic instrument genre needed a rest though. It had a good run and hopefully people will welcome it back when it returns.

Has Joss Whedon ever mentioned Metroid in his various blog entries or twitter or anything? I guess you'd start by asking him if he's ever heard of Metroid. It would be very hard to get a question to him, I imagine. He's probably bombarded daily with Marvel comic book questions and now that he's made a movie that made 2 billion dollars, you'd probably have to know him.

A quick search on Whedonesque shows that David Greenwalt was once going to write the Metroid movie and he is a sometimes collaborator with Joss Whedon (he co-created the Angel TV series). Eliza Dushku, an actress in some Joss Whedon (star of Dollhouse) said she liked Metroid. That's about as close a connection I could get.

Really? Harmonix?Why would anybody within there right minds want to do anything with franchise that you screwed up so much from the beginning.From refusing certain record labels so you can have a perfect song importation system to rushed DLC by the truckload plus more.Even refused to fix the Wii version of Rockband 3 from gamebreaking bugs.At least Activision gave replace disc's for Guitar Hero III on the Wii when an minor audio bug been found & some people like myself owns both disc's to show for it.

I would love to see a few things in Rockband before it ends for good.1: Traveling Willburys Rockband. They have 'You Got It' & 'Freefallin', and staff member Dhani Harrison (son of George) worked heavily on the recent Willburys release.2 Beatles: Rockband update. I want keys & pro keys support for Beatles Rockband, and maybe the ability to export to RB3, but I doubt that they could work anything out with Apple for it, and without it I can't see them spending the money to add keys.3 Add a new instrument - wind controller. It's basically an electric wind instrument and can do any brass or woodwind instrument, and having a plastic one can add anything from a trumpet to harmonica to tuba part for a song. If you add a midi port like the Rockband keyboard, it could be a popular instrument.4 More Roxette, a lot of U2, classic GNR songs.5 Every couple of years or so a new Rockband release with the top 30 singles since the last one. This wouldn't interest me, but could help to bring new customers in and breathe new life into it.6. allow people to jam using their pro instruments, and add PC tools to allow people to record their own music with their pro instruments.Sadly, I can't see any of these happening, mainly due to the fact that Harmonix would make a loss on each one.

Rock Band 3 is still my most played game on the PS3, but I have a proper V-Drum set I can hook up. It's an amazing game, but the DLC you want are so few and far between.

I think people are naive when they say that it would never get back to the glory days. I think Harmonix would be pretty stupid not to reboot the franchise in 5-10 years. By that time, I think most people would be hyped to play a Rock Band game again.

I thought RB3 was a fantastic game. RB3 bought some major innovations with the keyboard controller (i have the Wii version) and more realistic instruments as an option, and the small refinements to the interface and new ways of challenging the player made it the best in the series for me.
They have only recently stopped adding new DLC. The DLC offering is already fantastic for this game but maybe i can start hoping for even more tracks to become available if they do add another game to the series.

Rock Band is one of those things I'd love to see back in a few years. I don't need it right now, but if we could get a new one eventually, it would feel fresh and it definitely bring me back to when I used to play Lego Rock Band/Beatles Rock Band/Rock Band 3 all the time.

@Scubahustle: true maybe but I think having the controller be the buttons like on the handled Consoles DS PSP rock band games or need more such as wii u game pad be the inteustment and on ps4 be the tablet it really works Handhelds 3ds should work the same as the DS rock band Ps Vita should be unique useing muilt touch see peace of cake music I would like to see itSimple planKesha

Publishers should be Warner bros Why not EA? Because they don't support nintendo anymore It could really workI like a reply from anyone